It’s best to be prepared when kids come to you complaining that they are bored and can’t find anything to do. You and your child will be relieved if you have game ideas ready. Kids like games that are challenging physically and mentally. Games that help develop social skills as well as coordination and motor skills are beneficial and fun for your little ones.
Car Games
Long trips are great opportunities for family fun. Playing games in the car gives children mental stimulation and entertainment.
Counting Crows is a car game recommended by Babycenter. For this game one rider chooses an item for the other riders to look for, such as a cow or a motorcycle. The rider who finds the most of that object in a designated time period is the winner. Each rider can only look out of his own window.
Another popular car game kids play is Twenty Questions. "Parents" magazine recommends this game for kids older than 4. One person thinks of an animal, vegetable or mineral, but doesn’t tell the rest of the group what he is thinking. The rest of the players ask questions to try to figure out what the secret object is. After the players have asked 20 questions they take turns guessing what the object is.
Party Games
Pin the Tail on the Donkey is a classic party game that kids play. Before the party hang a picture of a donkey. Give each child a piece of paper cut out to resemble a tail. Make sure there is tape or another type of safe adhesive on the tail so it is sticky. Blindfold the children one at a time, spin them around once so they get a little disoriented and lead them to the donkey. Each child tries to stick his paper tail onto the donkey’s backside. The person whose tail lands closest to the right spot is the winner.
Another party game that kids play is charades. One child stands in front of the group and is secretly given the name of an age-appropriate figure. She acts it out so the children can guess what she is. The child can tell the group the category of the figure. For example, if she is pretending to be an elephant she can tell the group she is an animal. She may choose to swing her arms like a trunk and stomp around the room like an elephant would walk. A twist on charades suggested on "PBS Kids" is to let kids only make sounds of the figure they are acting out instead of body movements.
Singing Games
Another fun game that kids play is Ring Around the Rosies. The children stand in a circle holding hands. They sing “Ring around the rosies, a pocket full of posies; Ashes, ashes, we all fall down” as they walk or run around in a circle, still holding hands. At the end of the song the children all collapse onto the floor, often in a fit of laughter.
